Phulbani: A POCSO court in Kandhamal district on Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for repeatedly raping a 16-year-old minor girl in 2021.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the convict, Hemanta Patra (21). In default of payment of the fine, Patra will have to undergo an additional six months of imprisonment, the court ordered.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place in 2021 when the accused, an unemployed youth at the time, assaulted the minor while she had gone to the outskirts of her village in the evening to attend to nature’s call. Taking advantage of the situation, Patra raped the girl and subsequently continued to sexually assault her multiple times, allegedly by threatening her with dire consequences.
The repeated crimes occurred within the jurisdiction of Belghar police station.
Following the disclosure of the incident, a family member of the victim lodged a First Information Report (FIR) with the Belghar police. Based on the complaint, police arrested Patra and produced him before the court, after which he was sent to judicial custody.
After examining the evidence and hearing the arguments, the POCSO court held the accused guilty and awarded the sentence under relevant provisions of the law.
